27 October 2011

You may not find this word in the dictionary, but it is one that has a clear definition, use and implication in my life. It is both a noun and adjective and can be described as follows:

Noun – A person who is addicted to HalloweenAdjective – A description of something spooky and Halloween-esque.

Halloweenies (of the noun variety) are a rare and precious breed. We are the people that put more stock in frightening the bejesus out of children than we do in honouring all the other holidays. We are the folks that turn our lawns in cemeteries, build tombstones in the summer, and are always on the lookout for the next great prop or discounted black curtains. Yes folks, I am a Halloweenie and I am guilty of all the aforementioned activities.

My obsession with Halloween stems back as far as I can remember. Perhaps I was an odd child with a penchant for the macabre. I’m not sure how many 10-year olds would wait patiently by their dot matrix printer, slowly churning out highly pixilated gruesome graphics to colour and put in the windows. I would also gather old castoff clothing from my family members and use it to construct dead bodies for the porch. I remember walking to the dollar store, allowance in hand, to purchase red poster board to cut into little blood puddles that I would lovingly scatter around my corpses. I’m sure it all looked a little budget, but to my child’s imagination, it was awesome! I always vowed that I would have THE Halloween house on the street when I would one day own my own place. Thankfully I married a man that shares my vision…or at least tolerates it because he loves me and is an exceedingly patient person.

This year’s haunt is going to be bigger and better than ever. No cheap and tacky ornamentation for us – the vast majority is homemade but done tastefully and with a great deal of love and care. We are not ones for cluttering the lawn with plastic animatronics or inflatables, we are more focused of setting a realistically eerie scene. Our porch is swathed in black curtains with hanging metal lanterns, smoke, webs and eerie lighting. Our ghost is not friendly, it looks like a black-eyed Madonna, floating freely in the wind. Our cemetery contains tombstones that have been painstaking carved by hand and an entrance gate with real glowing lanterns and posts. We want to give people the illusion that they are really stepping up to a haunted place.

People often ask me, “Why on earth do you do it?” My answer is simple – the children. When you see kids regularly driving by on their bicycles and slowing down to look at your lawn, when you hear their exclamations of excitement – that’s the ticket for us! People don’t do enough anymore for children. I want to give them a fun memory and something to look forward to every year. Don’t think that they don’t appreciate it – they do!

Each year we have countless children thanking us for the effort , not to mention their parents. It is also something fun that we can enjoy doing with our whole family. At the tender age on two, Drew is already showing a good deal of interest in all our Halloween stuff. I look forward to incorporating some of his ideas in the future and letting him build a few props of his own. I can't wait for the day when he asks to go to the dollar store to buy his own red posster board.

19 October 2011

Where on earth did the time go? I am having a hard time believing that (a) my little boy isn’t a baby anymore, and (b) that I am actually the mother of a two-year old. Baby bottles have been replaced by cups and straws, the crib is gone and snuggling with his parents seems more like a chore than a favourite pastime now...sigh.

Despite the onset of the “terrible twos” and the attitude that comes along with it, I really do enjoy motherhood. We have moved from simply taking care of his basic needs (surviving) to now actually having to parent. While discipline isn’t enjoyable, I really enjoy being able to communicate with Drew and seeing the wheels turning in his head. He is a curious, busy and clever little boy – only silent or still when he’s sleeping. He’s a handful but he’s fun.

To mark Drew’s special day, we went out shopping at the mall to pick out a few goodies for his party this weekend. We took a little snack break at the coffee shop, rode the carousel and had fun testing out almost every bench in the mall (he did...I watched). While I didn’t intend to take the day off from work, my daycare provider ended up having to close for the day to go to a medical appointment. Looks like the starts aligned in the end; I’m glad I got to some quality time with Drew on his birthday.

Tonight we are heading out to Boston Pizza for Drew’s favourite treat. Mom and Dad and meeting up with us and then it’s back to our place for some cupcakes and a few presents. The larger family celebration is happening this weekend. We were debating on throwing a kids party but it just didn’t feel right. Drew doesn’t really have any solid friendships at his age, aside from his few little buddies at daycare. He’s a social animal by nature but I didn’t want our own friends to feel obligated to bring their kids or have to buy gifts – they have enough expenses of their own I’m sure.We’ll probably do a big show-stopper of a birthday once he’s in school....the ideas are already brewing ! For now, he’ll be content with family and a few select folks.

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful, funny, crazy and loving little guy I know. You can be the very devil himself at times but, you bring your father and I immense joy, laughter and pride. But please little man...don’t grow up too fast okay?

03 October 2011

Okay…well perhaps the title is a bit misleading.NO – I am not pregnant in any way, shape or form!

I am referring to the birth of my new little goddaughter.

Today my best friend, since the second grade, gave birth to her first child. After a looooong labour, little miss Evie graced us all with her beautiful presence. Of course, I was anxious to get to the hospital to get some snuggle time in! Neither hubby nor I ever suspected that we were going to be godparents, we were asked once we got to hold her in our arms. Of course, I broke out into happy tears and said yes – what an honour!

So now I am doubly blessed. I have my own little boy at home and a goddaughter that I get to spoil with all manner of ridiculously girly and frilly things. Bring on the pink and glitter ; )